Detailed Sample Task: EAL Literacy

CLB 3L-Listening
Comprehending Information

Getting Around and Transportation

Real-World Task

Listen to an announcement on public transportation that gives information about the transportation like a delay or route change.

Planning Context

Helpful Knowledge:

Modes of transportation
Simple present
Numbers to 60
Precise times, such as 6:37 pm.
Expressions of time such as 15 minutes, half an hour, an hour

Context:

Many people in Canada, especially in urban areas, use public transportation.
Announcements on public transportation give important information.

Vocabulary and Grammar

Sample Vocabulary:

Sample Grammar:

There is, there are
Using will for future plans

Knowledge and Strategies

Textual and Functional Knowledge:

Announcements usually give information about delays or changes to schedule.
Often the most important part of the message is repeated.

Sociolinguistic Knowledge:

Announcements usually begin with a greeting (eg. Good morning, passengers.) and often involve polite language (eg. We apologize for any inconvenience.)

Activities and Tasks

Sample Skill-Building Activities:

Discuss forms of public transportation. Identify which forms of public transportation are in your local area.
Use vocabulary cards with images of your local public transportation when possible and practice vocabulary using a variety of games and activities such as Memory, Bingo, and TPR (Total Physical Response).
Poll the class on who uses which form of public transportation and record the numbers on a tally chart. As a class, transfer this information to a simple bar graph.
Look at websites or apps for public transportation in your area. Practice finding the routes the learners in the class take and identifying the schedule.
Teach the phrases There is/there are and complete a worksheet.
Practice a dialogue in which one passenger tells another passenger about a delay on the bus. Practice as a class and then in partners.
Read a series of sentences with delays in public transportation. Fill in the blanks with There is or There are.
Teach will for future plans. Practice writing sentences with will for own future plans, eg. I will study level 4 next semester or I will clean my house this weekend.
Read a series of short, simple announcements about delays on public transportation. Circle the important information about the delay, the cause, and any route changes. Underline the greeting. Draw a box around the polite language.
Listen to a series of announcements about delays on different forms of public transportation and their causes. Draw a line on a page to match the form of transportation to the cause of the delay.

Sample Skill-Using Tasks:

Listen to a dialogue between a bus driver and a passenger. Identify the delay and the route change.
Listen to announcements about delays. Record on a page how long each delay will be.

Sample Assessment Tasks:

Listen to an announcement on public transportation that gives information about a delay or route change.

Teaching Considerations

Cultural Considerations:

Some learners may not come from cultures with the expectation that public transportation follows a strict schedule.

Digital Literacy Strategies:

Successful completion of some tasks may require some baseline knowledge and digital skills.

Learners may need to:

Have keyboarding and typing skills.
Locate, navigate and use websites.
Use familiar apps, social media platforms and web pages.
Read information from a screen.

Instructors can:

Dedicate time to improve digital literacy for learners
Make and/ or adapt digital materials.
Introduce websites and/or apps that are relevant to the task(s).
Support learners in finding, navigating and using websites, for example, finding a specific route
Teach reading strategies such as skimming and scanning to find information on websites or apps.
Introduce tools and apps that can aid learners in coping with communication. barriers, such as translation, pronunciation, text to speech, speech to text tools and so on.
Share knowledge and strategies to ensure online safety.
Refer learners to programs to improve their digital skills.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigenization Strategies:

Use diverse representations of people in all your learning resources and images, including people who are 2SLGBTQ+, Indigenous, Francophone and of other cultures, and people who have disabilities or who are neurodivergent. Consider this diversity as you choose names for characters in stories you create as well.
Show learners where to find information about subsidized transit passes in your area.
Recognize that some learners may not feel safe on public transportation, possibly including those who identify as women or who are 2SLGBTQIA+. Help learners identify some strategies for safety, such as avoiding public transportation after dark, riding with a friend, staying in well-lit areas, or staying alert. Avoid assuming that everyone takes public transportation or feels comfortable doing so.

Trauma-informed Strategies:

Possible Trauma Triggers:

Learners who have experienced trauma may not feel safe using public transportation. Help learners identify strategies for safer use, but also recognize that public transportation does not feel safe for everyone.
Be aware that learners who have experienced trauma may be triggered by changes to their predictable routine, such as delays or route changes. Recognize that for some learners, a delay or change may feel like more than an inconvenience.
When teaching about Canada, you may teach about things that are triggering to learners who have experienced trauma. We can’t know what the triggers might be and what seems commonplace to us may have a triggering component for learners. Be aware of this and be prepared to support learners as needed.

Strategies:

Give learners advance warning of this topic and be aware that there may be learners who require support.
Learners who have experienced trauma often benefit from having routine. Create a safe and supportive classroom environment by establishing familiar routines, repeated activities, and model friendly and non-evaluative interactions.
Learners will benefit from positive relationships established in the classroom with the instructor and peers.
Learners who have experienced trauma benefit from having choices.
- Allow learners choice:
  - the choice to work on a different topic
  - the choice to share or not share their own experiences
  - the choice to work alone or to work with others
  - the choice to take care of themselves
  - the choice to step out of the learning environment
When learners have shared personal distressing or traumatic experiences, make space for learners to feel safe and recover from the experience of sharing their experiences. Follow the activities which may make learners feel vulnerable with routine, predictable and comforting activities.
Giving learners the knowledge, skills and language to access resources can be empowering.

Resources

Outings, Guest Speaker Suggestions, Extension Activities:

Walk to a nearby train or subway station as a class and look at the route maps, layout, and ticket machines.
Take a short field trip as a class using public transportation and create an LEA (Language Experience Approach) story about it.

Realia:

Websites and apps for public transportation in your area
Route maps
Ticket machines

Units and Modules:

LINC 3 Classroom Activities: Travel and Transportation (p. 471) (Not literacy but can be adapted)

Lessons and Activities:

Tutela: Taking the Bus (Not literacy but can be adapted)
Tutela: CLB 3 Module Plan: Transportation (Not literacy but can be adapted)
A search of NLCG (nlcg.achev.ca) may provide additional tasks that can be adapted.

Multimedia:

Tutela: ESL Image Bank: Types of Transportation